a lot of games with emergent systems take the approach of “you’ll try to do one thing, but then wacky hijinks might ensue if you’re not extra careful and you might end up dead!”. games like this include:

• Noita
• Magicka
• Skin Deep, to some extent

and this is totally valid and fine, but I don’t like it because I don’t like giving up control to the game to that extent. it kinda feels like the game is asking me to laugh at myself when I make {a mistake, which the game was designed to facilitate} but I’m not comfortable with that

I’ve been really really enjoying Creeper World IXE because it has emergent systems that still make me feel empowered as the player, and not like minor mistakes will be harshly punished for comedic effect. it feels like every map is a series of improvisational engineering puzzles - especially after {certain mechanics taken from falling sand games} are introduced

I’ve found myself carefully designing rooms so that they can be completely filled with water or sand, creating rooms whose entire purpose is to mix chemicals, and breaching rooms by very precisely forming a funnel for acid

it’s a lot of fun, and not a type of fun that I’ve experienced before. I think this game is actually what young kas wanted out of falling sand games back when she played them 15-ish years ago